Remedial Chaos Theory
Plot End tag ]]At the end of the episode, we see what has happened after the events in Troy's timeline. Pierce has died from the gunshot wound. Annie is in psychiatric care due to guilt. Jeff has lost an arm trying to put out the fire. Troy's throat and voicebox are severely damaged after he tried to destroy the troll doll by eating it while it was on fire. Shirley has become an alcoholic. (Anti-climatically, Britta has dyed a lock of her hair blue.) Abed suggests that this is the darkest timeline and claims responsibility for not preventing it by failing to catch the die before Jeff could use it. He promises to "make it up to them" by proposing that they become the evil study group. Together, they will somehow cross over to the "Prime" timeline and take over their duplicates' lives. He dons a felt cutout of a Van Dyke beard and declares himself Evil Abed. Most of the group leaves in disbelief, overwhelmed by their shattered lives. Troy dons a felt Van Dyke beard, however, and he and Evil Abed perform their signature handshake. In the Prime timeline, Abed gets a weird sense that something ominous is happening. Alternate timelines graph Recurring themes Continuity: *'That just happened': **In the Season Three premiere, Troy and Abed announce they are moving in together. **Annie reminds Jeff of the conversation they had in "Geography of Global Conflict". *'Mad skillz': Despite Shirley being a good cook, the group believes that it shouldn't be her only identity and they make a pact to not enable her cooking. *'This must be the place': Living arrangements, both past and present, are significant plot points in this episode: Trobed's new apartment, Troy's time living with Pierce in his mansion, and Annie's residence in an apartment above Dildopolis. *'A nice gesture': **After finding out someone has to go get the pizza, each member of the study group instantly touches their nose in order to signify they are not "it". They used this gesture before in "Aerodynamics of Gender". **In the episode end tag, Evil Troy and Evil Abed do their signature handshake. *'Googly eyes': Several of the timelines contain romantic developments between the Troy/Britta and Jeff/Annie pairings, although the prime timeline does not contain any of these developments. *'Replay': Six different versions of the same situation are presented in this episode. *'School supplies': **Various items are featured prominently in this episode which play a part in how each timeline unfolds: The Indiana Jones diorama, Yahtzee die, Annie's gun, Pierce's Serbian rum, the Norwegian troll doll, and Britta's lighter. **Various posters from Abed's dorm room can be seen in the background including the Kickpuncher and "Kick Splasher" ones seen in Season One. **The Greendale College Anus flag can be seen several times. **Troy and Abed's apartment has framed photos of both of them together from various episodes from the past two seasons. **Felt goatees are created in this episode by an Abed from an alternate reality. *'First appearance': **"The Darkest Timeline" first appears in this episode. It becomes a part of Abed story arc in Season Three leading into the season finale "Introduction to Finality". It resurfaces again in Season Four this time as a part of Jeff's story arc leading to the season finale "Advanced Introduction to Finality". **Evil Abed first appears in this episode. He later returns in "Contemporary Impressionists" appearing inside the Dreamatorium with Abed and eventually "taking over" Abed's body in "Introduction to Finality". **Toby makes his debut and returns in the episode "Course Listing Unavailable". *'Discontinuity': Britta plays music from an iPod Classic in this episode, but at the end of "The Art of Discourse" it is said that Britta is a "proud owner of an iPod nano" in the year 2014. 'Running gags': *'Catch Phrase': Britta says "Duh Doy". *'Turning it into a snake': Britta does an awkward song and dance when the pizza arrived; this dance was purportedly thought up by Gillian Jacobs herself. *'WWBJD?: '''Shirley chastises the group as horny toads who make googly eyes at each other. *'NOOOOO!: In Troy's timeline, he screams when he sees what has happened after he left to get the pizzas. *'''Troy and Abed in the morn-ing!: When Britta and Annie arrive, they declare "Troy and Abed's new apartment!". In the episode end tag, the alternate timeline Troy and Abed declare their new identities as "Evil Troy and Evil A-bed". *'Gasp': Annie gasps loudly when Toby the pizza guy buzzes their apartment. Pop culture references *'Name that tune': The song "Roxanne" by "The Police" is featured prominently in this episode. *'Alert nerd!: '''Abed has a diorama of "Indiana Jones" which he proudly shows off to his guests. He mentions being a huge fan of the franchise in the Season One episode "Social Psychology," although he confessed being disappointed with the last one. *'Product placement': **The group play the classic board game Yahtzee. **Pierce gives Troy a Norwegian troll doll which is actually a real product and sold in Norway gift shops. **When criticizing Jeff for his selfish actions, Pierce says to "Encarta" the word friendship, a reference to the now defunct online multimedia encyclopedia that was produced by Microsoft. *'Shout out': In each timeline, Pierce tries to tell his story about sleeping with singer/actress Eartha Kitt. Meta references: *'Behind the scenes': This episode was originally intended to be the third episode aired, but Harmon felt they needed to have more time to edit it properly and switched the air date with "Competitive Ecology". This is referenced when Britta asks Annie about the number to Troy and Abed's apartment which is 303, the same number as the production code for the episode even though it's the fourth one aired. *'IRL': According to Danny Pudi's official bio on NBC.com ( as seen HERE), he enjoys playing Yahtzee. *'Use your allusion': **The Darkest Timeline sees '''Abed' cutting out fake Van Dyke beards for the "evil" study group. This is a direct reference to Star Trek '''and its "Mirror Universe" concept where evil alternate versions of the main characters would appear. The first appearance of these doppelgangers had an evil version of '''Spock sporting a Van Dyke beard. **In the kitchen of Troy and Abed's apartment, the refrigerator is made up to look like a vending machine. One of the selections pictured is Troy referencing his being trapped inside a vending machine in the end tag of "Basic Genealogy". *'Homage:' The ending of The Darkest Timeline arc while Troy is holding the Pizzas is a play off the ending of the third segment in Four Rooms where Antonio Banderas is holding his wife and the room is in chaos. Gallery Episode clip Promotional photos 3X4 Promopic3.jpg 3X4 Promopic2.jpg 3X4 Promopic1.jpg 3X4 Promopic4.jpg 3X4 Promopic5.jpg 3X4 Promopic6.jpg 3X4 Promopic7.jpg 3X4 Promopic8.jpg 3X4 Promopic9.jpg 3X4 Promopic10.jpg 3X4 Promopic11.jpg 3X4 Promopic12.jpg 3X4 Promopic13.jpg 3X4 Promopic14.jpg 3X4 Promopic15.jpg 3X4 Promopic16.jpg 3X4 Promopic17.jpg 3X4 Promopic18.jpg 3X4 Promopic19.jpg Quotes Category:Season 3 Episodes Category:Community Episodes Category:Darkest Timeline